“We believe that the bilingual status of some municipalities should be maintained, even in the event of a downward demographic shift,” said Beny Masella, Mayor of Montreal West.
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QUEBEC – Montreal’s suburban mayors are calling on the Avenir Québec Coalition government to make the bilingual status of most of its cities permanent, even as the percentage of English-speaking residents has decreased.
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And two other groups, the Quebec Bar Association and the Conseil du Patronat, have expressed doubts about many clauses of Bill 96 that revise the Charter of the French Language.
The bar says key clauses of the bill, including one that says the judiciary cannot require judges to be bilingual, will likely be challenged in court. And the employers’ association says the legislation will jeopardize hiring companies and do little to actually approve the quality of French.
“When a company hires, it looks for the best candidate,” said the association. “Talent has no nationality or language.”
As the second week of hearings on the proposed legislation draws to a close, attention turned to the details of how to apply the law if it is adopted as it is currently drafted.
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Although they are not scheduled to appear until Thursday, the mayors of the suburbs came forward and released their brief saying they see no reason for any municipality to lose its bilingual status.
In fact, bilingualism for many of them is an “inherent part of their identity,” said Beny Masella, president of the Association of Suburban Municipalities and mayor of Montreal West.
“We believe that the bilingual status of some municipalities should be maintained, even in the event of a downward demographic change,” Masella said in a statement.
“On the ground, we do not see any problem that justifies the elimination of this right from the municipalities that currently have this status, quite the contrary. It is important to have the flexibility to provide optimal services to all the citizens of our municipalities ”.
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Of the 15 municipalities in the association, 13 have bilingual status, which allows them to communicate in English with citizens.
Many Quebec cities have maintained services in English despite population changes, out of respect for citizens.
In Bill 96, the CWC government proposes to eliminate bilingual status for cities where the population of English mother tongue citizens has fallen below 50 percent.
The bill also says that a municipality can choose to maintain bilingual status by passing a resolution within 120 days of the enactment of Bill 96. Approximately 60 percent of bilingual cities and towns in Quebec already have made.
But Masella said there is “real discontent and concern in our communities when this unnecessary debate periodically resurfaces in the public arena.”
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The association asks the government to make bilingual status permanent following a resolution adopted by the council.
The mayors weren’t the only dissenting voices.
In the afternoon, the Quebec Bar Association raised a series of red flags when it appeared before the committee.
They said that despite the government’s decision to use the constitution’s annulment clause to protect the bill from legal challenges, parts of the bill could end up in court anyway.
On the one hand, the clause in the bill that would make it illegal to require judges to be bilingual unless the justice minister gives permission could jeopardize the independence of the judiciary and be the subject of a challenge, the association said.
Other parts of the bill, including a clause saying that the French version of the laws and regulations would take precedence over the English, could violate Article 133 of the Constitution., which guarantees citizens the right to use French or English in court.
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In the evening, the president of the Conseil du Patronat, Karl Blackburn, said that many elements of the bill would have a negative impact on the business community.
Extending the charter franchise certification process to companies with 25 to 49 employees, as the bill proposes, burdens them with administrative and bureaucratic costs that many cannot afford.
New restrictions on a company’s powers to hire English- and French-speaking employees are also unrealistic in an open international business climate, the association argued.
Finally, he said that the clause proposing a return to the 2019 “net dominance” formula for French on commercial signs will do nothing to boost the use of French by citizens. It will also penalize companies that will have to shell out money to adjust their posters once again.
And Blackburn welcomed an idea put forward by the committee’s Parti Québécois MNA, Pascal Bérubé, who suggested that stores be rewarded for serving customers in French with a special sign on the door.
“Your idea is not bad,” Blackburn told Bérubé.
Bill 96: English Quebecers lose out on language bill, says QCGN
Opinion: My love for the French language is born from the loss of another
English school boards say bill 96 would go too far by limiting enrollment
Reference-montrealgazette.com